Alleged Cable Modem Hacker Indicted

A U.S. man is facing federal criminal charges for allegedly selling modified cable modems and software that enabled free Internet access at super-fast broadband speeds.

Ryan Harris, owner of TCNISO, ran a mail-order Web site and retail store in San Diego that sold software and modded cable modems. The products enabled "users to obtain faster, upgraded internet service without paying the premiums charged by the ISP," according to the indictment, which is dated Aug. 19 but was unsealed just last week.

Harris, who went by the name DerEngel, is charged with conspiracy, aiding and abetting computer fraud and aiding and abetting wire fraud, according to the indictment, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Federal prosecutors allege Harris and TCNISO took in more than US$1 million in revenue between 2003 and this year.

Harris and three unindicted co-conspirators created software that modified a cable modem so that it could adopt the MAC (Media Access Control) address used by the ISP (Internet service provider) to identify a paying Internet subscriber's modem.

Those MAC addresses, however, were stolen from paying users using software Harris and his company created, the indictment alleges.

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